Sony Ericsson K700i taken apart

The End Results

Here are all the bits that I got down to. There were more parts to get to (taking the screen and keypad contacts off and the like) but I stopped as I wanted to have a working phone at the end of it as one day I might get round to removing the SIM lock from the phone so I can use it.

Here is the story of how to get there.

Step 1

Slide the battery cover off and remove the battery. Nice and easy so far but this is where the breakable plastic clips start to appear. The next bit of the back cover (the bit for the camera) is removed by bending the plastic clips at the bottom of the cover inwards whilst applying upwards pressure. See the close up picture for a nice view of the clip on one side partially out. You can see the lip of the plastic tab facing towards the outside of the phone.

You may be able to release these clips by simply pressing the bottom of the cover together and pulling but I found it easier to use a hooked tool to push actually on the tab itself, doing one side at a time.

Once unclipped the cover is removed by sliding it towards the top of the phone (the opposite direction to that of the battery cover). Once off you will notice that the top of the cover is held in place to two lugs hence the sliding action to remove it. The side buttons will probably fallen off too, as these just sit inside the cover and will come away with it. Remember these when putting it all back together.

Step 2

With the back cover off you can access all the clips that hold the front cover in place. The first time I took the phone apart I started with the front cover instead to the camera part of the back cover leading to lots of scary bending of plastic and trying to feel where things were being held.

There are eight clips on all, four on each side. One of the clips is split in two for some reason. The lips on all these clips face inwards so bend them gently outwards. If you start at the bottom of the phone (near the connector) you can wedge your finger nail between the front cover and the phone and use this to provide the pressure to release the bottom clips as you bend them. You can then work your way up the clips to the top of the phone. When unclipped the cover should come away and the keypad buttons will probably come away with it or fall off.

The tool at the bottom of the picture is a Torx screw driver that you will be needing shortly.

Step 3

Turn the phone over and, as if by magic, the shop keeper will appear. Well you will be faced with a metal cover held in place by four Torx screws (size T6), one at each corner, and two clips about half way down each side.

Undo the four screws (shown partially unscrewes in the first picture) and unclip the metal cover from the two plastic lugs. The cover should then come free although it may get caught on the joystick so if it is not coming free that maybe the problem.

The second picture shows the cover removed. The phone is still working at this point, see the LEDs that light the keypad are on and, if it had come out in the picture, the screen is working.

Step 4

The PCB is held by two small ribbon cables that run under the screen and connect the two side bottons. These cables plug into the connectors marked in the first picture.

The connectors are released by lifting the brown coloured part gently. The cables can then easily be removed. The second picture shows the connectors unlocked and the ribbon cables freed.

The camera is the last part stopping the PCB from being freed. It is in a rubber enclosure and only the rubberiness (a fine word) holds it in place. The camera connects to the PCB by the green cable shown in the picture. You can push the camera out from the other side and now you'll have all the seperate parts shown in the first picture.

Other bits and bobs

Well now that was fun. Here are some pictures of the phone in various states. I wonder what is inside those metal shields? Maybe some other time.